Ruin and Rising

Alina and Mal make plans with Nikolai. They decide to go in search of the third amplifier, which is traditionally believed to be a firebird, in the area of Ravka where Alina and Mal were originally born. Mal and several of the Grisha will take an airship to the area, while Nikolai and Alina go to West Ravka to perform some diplomacy before Nikolai takes her to reunite with Mal and the others. Nikolai gives Alina a valuable family heirloom, an emerald ring, and implies that he would like to marry her one day and make her the Queen of Ravka. He also gives her a new wardrobe for the West Ravka trip, and Alina enjoys some camaraderie with the other women in her party while the others go through the items she doesn’t want. She is uneasy about Nikolai’s pseudo-proposal because of her feelings for Mal, even though she knows that Mal chafes under the life of finery and luxury she must lead as Ravka’s icon.

That night, as Alina is reflecting on the upcoming mission, she slips into another psychic connection with the Darkling, related in the next chapter.